April 05, 2023
Letele series to give voice to poor
Community activist Dave Buttabean Letele says his new TV series will lift the lid on living poor in south Auckland.
The former boxer has lost his Friday morning talkback gig with the closure of Today FM, but his Heavyweight production crew was already working on a three-part series for TVNZ.
He says the idea came after being on a panel for a Paddy Gower expose and thinking such stories are better told by people in the community rather than by outsiders who take the ratings, take the money and leave.
“Some of the stories we’ve been speaking to, I’ve just been heartbroken. It’s going to kick that thing these politicians, especially on the right, always talk about – personal choice, poor brown people, lazy brown people, it’s going to kick that to the kerb. Because as we know, a lot of us, what we’ve had to overcome, it’s been huge,” Mr Letele says.
He says the series won’t just show the challenges but what people have been able to do to overcome them.